Medium Just Laid Off 50 Employees and Shut Down Offices in New York and D.C.

Medium founder and CEO Ev Williams disclosed today in a blog post that his four-and-a-half-year-old company is eliminating 50 jobs and shutting down offices in New York and Washington, D.C. In a philosophical letter to the public, he recounted how his team's ultimate goals had gotten off course thanks to the monetization model known as advertising. "We set out to build a better publishing platform—one that allowed anyone to offer their stories and ideas to the world and that helped the great ones rise to the top," Williams wrote. "In 2016, we made big investments in teams and technology aimed at attracting and migrating commercial publishers to Medium. And in order to get these publishers paid, we built out and started selling our first ad products. This strategy worked in terms of driving growth, as well as improving the volume and consistency of great content." While it appears Medium is doing away with its sponsored posts ads product, he wrote that 2016 was his company's best year in terms of key metrics. For instance, published posts jumped roughly 300 percent year over year, and monthly visitors reportedly reached 60 million in December, representing a 140 percent year-over-year increase. Medium, a digital storytelling platform, has even attracted scores of public figures—most notably President Barack Obama—to get their messages out. Meanwhile, publishers of all sizes have been able to try to make money off their Medium stories, which have been sponsored in... Continue reading at 'AdWeek'

[ AdWeek | 2017-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Timothy Leary-developed video games found in New York Public Library archive

The New York Public Library recently discovered a treasure trove of video games in its archives created by psychedelic evangelist Timothy Leary. Over 375 floppies (talk about flashbacks) containing a "dozen or so" games developed by the LSD-advocate in the '80s -- some are playable via emulation... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #rare books #good doctor #image credit

Editor's Letter: Distro, shutting down...

There are few things more heartbreaking for an editor than turning the lights off on a publication. Unfortunately, today marks the second time I've had to perform that unrewarding task. And while I plan to make good on my promise to take what we've learned here at Distro and transfer it to... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #today marks #mainstream media #space -- #step back #step forward

New York Comic-Con Gets Bigger and More Techy

New York Comic-Con can be distilled to four words this year: “Bigger and more hectic,” says Lance Fensterman, global v-p of ReedPop, the convention’s organizer. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Brazil, “A Land of Many Voices,” Comes to New York

Prior to the Frankfurt Book Fair, the German Book Office in New York hosted a party celebrating Brazil as this year's Guest of Honor Country. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-09-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight gets UK price cut, drops below £50

Bookworms in the UK tired of smuggling flashlights to bed might want to take another look at the Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight. After all, you can get one for £49 now that Barnes & Noble has slashed £20 off its retail price -- that's far, far lower than the amount people had to pay at... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #barnes noble #book retailer #feel free

Blackwell's to open digital development office

Blackwell’s is setting up a new digital development office with nine new members of staff.... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Take A Look At New York's Tiny, Secret Libraries

"The premise of Little Free Library is take–a–book, return–a–book," explains Ian Veidenheimer of The Architectural League of New York, who helped coordinate the project to bring these tiny libraries to New York. When the project has deployed in other cities, the books are usually guarded by a... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2013-09-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #international literature #public spaces #east village

Lee Child takes Official UK Top 50 top spot

Lee Child's new Jack Reacher thriller, Never Go Back (Bantam Press), was the bestselling... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tesco hires former Reed Elsevier chief financial officer

Former Reed Elsevier chief financial officer Mark Armour has been hired by Tesco as a non-... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New York City Has An Internet Inequality Problem

Last Monday night, Mark Zuckerberg published a post announcing Facebook's new initiative to bring Internet access to the developing world. The blueprint for internet.org mapped out how Facebook and a host of phone company allies might connect an additional 5 billion people online through more... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2013-08-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #report revealed #president obama #public libraries #online learning

AMA Shuts Down News Magazine

Citing a spiral of declining ad revenues, the American Medical Association (AMA) will stop publishing the print edition and website of American Medical News next month. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2013-08-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #news magazine #stop publishing

Hearst Magazines Finds Chief Digital Exec at The New York Times

In its second major digital hire of late, Hearst Magazines has hired Todd Haskell from The New York Times as svp and chief digital revenue officer. Haskell will be responsible for driving sales and revenue for Hearst Magazines Digital Media’s 24 sites, including Cosmopolitan.com, Esquire.com... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2013-07-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #business development #forward momentum #working closely #meredith corp #work closely

Christine Quinn Wants to Be the First Female Mayor of New York City

As of this writing, Christine Quinn, the first female and openly gay speaker of the New York City Council, remains a front-runner in the city’s crowded race for mayor. A poll by Quinnipiac University, the New York Times reports, shows Quinn, the second-most-powerful elected official in the... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2013-07-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fifteen jobs to go at LP's London office

Lonely Planet has confirmed that 15 roles in its London office will be made redundant as part of... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-07-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #london office #lonely planet #made redundant

Lessons In (Software) Architecture From GitHub’s New Office

While I was doing reporting for this big story about GitHub, a side discussion came up with Scott Chacon, one of GitHub’s founders and the tsar of their new office, known to GitHubbers as Office 3.0. As we talked about the architecture of the new space, a “blank slate” industrial building where... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2013-07-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AJR Shuts Down Print Edition, Goes Online Only

As newsrooms continue to shrink, journalism and media students are facing a harsh reality upon graduation. Media companies are changing business models and expectations rapidly. Those changes are starting to trickle down to colleges. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2013-07-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #media companies

New York Times to launch digital magazine

Building on the success of its Pulitzer Prize winning interactive article "Snow Fall," the New York Times will launch what it's calling "an immersive digital magazine experience."Sam Sifton, the former Times food critic-turned national editor, will lead the project. At the same time, he will... Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2013-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #previous week #mobile devices #early stages #digital offerings